Asian Cinema Studies Society (ACSS) was started in 1984 by Dr. Mira Binford, with help from a coterie of Asian cinema scholars, including the present chair. Under Dr. Binford’s leadership, ACSS initiated a newsletter and held successful conferences in Athens, Ohio (1988), New York City, and Melbourne, Australia.

At a second conference in Athens, Ohio, in Fall 1994, Dr. John A. Lent was elected chair and editor-in-chief of Asian Cinema, which had evolved from a newsletter to a periodical. Dr. Lent changed Asian Cinema into an academic journal which publishes twice yearly and circulates to many countries. He still chairs ACSS (in 2012) and edits Asian Cinema, which has published through Vol. 22 (2011) a total of 32 numbers, each averaging 250-300 pages.